Tale of Two Candidates

During the recent election campaign I discussed the issue of voting for the Christian Heritage Party (CHP) or for a mainstream party such as the Conservative Party. In two polls I conducted, one on Wonderquests, and the other on my student blog, most opted for a Christian running for the Conservative Party rather than a CHP candidate. There is an interesting footnote to this discussion and to the poll results. In this last election there were two candidates who are members of the Canadian Reformed Church, the same denomination I am a member of. Mike Schouten, who, years ago, was in my social studies class, ran for the CHP in the South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale riding. In Elmwood-Transcona riding, Laurence Toet, who I knew when I lived in Carman Manitoba in the late 1970s, ran and won the seat as a Conservative candidate. The easy analysis would be to say that my polls accurately reflect that, with Canada’s present system, getting elected as a Christian requires working within a mainstream party. But this kind of analysis leaves out important points.

First of all, while Laurence Toet is the first Canadian Reformed Member of Parliament, don’t look for him to be able to bring in sweeping social conservative values – like an end to same sex marriage or abortion on demand. He represents all of his constituents, not just the Christians. Also, he will have to toe the party line, as he was elected as a Conservative and on a Stephen Harper ticket. No doubt Laurence knew this before he was elected and probably sees a distinction between the role of government and the role of the church, as I discussed in my blog post on April 26 on the role of government.

On the other hand, the fact that Mike Schouten in South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale and the CHP in general did not win a seat does not mean that it was pointless to run. Candidates from smaller parties like the CHP do not really expect to win, although they need to be ready to serve as you cannot always predict the voters’ mood. Look at the many NDP candidates who found this out in Quebec. The CHP uses an election campaign as an opportunity to discuss important social conservative values and, as such, keep these issues on the table. It also gives many Christians the chance to cast their vote for a party that supports their values, enabling them to protest the status quo. Politics may be viewed as the art of the possible by many, but not all Christians see it that way and it is important for them to be able to participate in the process as well.

Regardless of what you believe about the connection between faith and politics, we can all appreciate that Christians like Mike and Laurence are willing to run, and I for one wish Laurence well as he seeks to fulfil his new role.

Conservative Majority

On Monday, May 2, Canadians went to the polls and exercised their democratic right to vote. While the Conservative majority is not a huge surprise, this election will still go down in history as significant. The demise of the Bloc Quebecois, including its leader Gilles Duceppe, and the crushing defeat of Michael Ignatieff were not predicted by any of the pundits. Neither was the enormous success of Jack Layton and the NDP, especially in Quebec.

In the 1990's, Jean Chrétien was able to win three back to back majorities because of the division of the right wing vote, first between the Reform Party and the Progressive Conservatives, and later between the Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives. Since the right wing parties have been able to combine into the Conservative Party, they have managed to first stave off a Liberal majority, and then win two back to back minorities. In the latest election we have come full circle with the left of center vote being divided allowing the Conservatives a majority. It will be difficult to defeat the Tories as long as the left of center is split. Are we moving to a two party system comparable to the United States? Time will tell.

Another interesting angle to the election results is the success of the NDP, especially in Quebec. The 42 NDP seats outside of Quebec is a significant victory too, but only because it's more than the Liberals total of 34 seats. Ed Broadbent was able to win over forty two seats with the NDP in the 1988 election, and that was without any seats in Quebec, so Jack Layton’s numbers outside of Quebec are not without precedent.

While it would be easy to give Jack Layton all the credit for the destruction of the Bloc Quebecois, one has to ask why Quebec is moving towards federalism at a time in history when Stephen Harper is Prime Minister. They might not want to vote for him, but they do not seem to have a problem being in a nation that he is leading.

With his new majority government, and a majority of Quebec MPs being NDP, Stephen Harper should move quickly put to health care reform on the agenda. It's time for Canadians to be able to opt out of the public system and go to a private clinic in Canada, instead of having to endure long wait times or travel to a clinic in the USA. With Quebec already being the province with the most private clinics, it would be difficult for Jack Layton to argue forcefully against a two-tiered system. It is time for the public system to endure some competition. Harper should strike while the iron is hot.

Regardless of what is on the political agenda, I think most Canadians are happy that the next election is at least four years away and that we should have a stable government after more than 7 years of minority governments.

Responsible Government

Since Stephen Harper and the Conservatives lost a vote of non-confidence on Friday March 25, Canadians will be going to the polls on May 2, 2011. In Canada the executive branch of government must have the approval of the legislative branch of government in order to stay in power. This is known as Responsible Government, and its development in British North America (BNA) is an interesting story.

It started when Britain took control of Quebec away from France in the Seven Years War. Soon after that time Britain was having difficulties with its American colonies to the south concerning taxes, and so used the Quebec Act to secure the loyalty of the residents of Quebec. In the Quebec Act, the French were not given democracy, but were given language and religious freedom. But then after the American Revolution, many of those who had remained loyal to Great Britain during the Revolutionary War moved to Quebec. The Loyalists posed a problem for the British authorities since they spoke English, were not Catholic, and were used to the democracy they had enjoyed in the American colonies. So in the Constitutional Act of 1791 the British divided Quebec into two colonies, Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec), and provided each colony with an elected assembly.

It would appear that democracy had arrived in BNA but that was not the case. Britain believed that the American colonies had rebelled because they had had too much freedom, and thus did not want to make the same mistake in BNA. At the same time they needed to placate the Loyalists who were used to the elected assemblies of the 13 American colonies. So Britain provided elected assemblies in the Canadas, but in essence all real power was in the hands of the governor and his appointed councils who were unelected officials, and could veto any law proposed by the elected assembly. Thus the Constitutional Act of 1791 gave the appearance of democracy but real power was in the hands of a small group of people. In Upper Canada this group became known as the Family Compact, because of the intermarriage of its members. A similar group in Lower Canada was known as the Chateau Clique.

By the 1830s many colonists in both Upper and Lower Canada were frustrated that the Family Compact and the Chateau Clique held all the power. While most colonists did not approve of rebellion some radicals in both Canadas did openly rebel in 1837. These rebellions were easily put down but did cause the British government to take notice, so in 1838 they sent Lord Durham, who had fought for liberal reforms in Britain, to Canada to head an inquiry. He concluded that the rebellions, at least in Upper Canada, were the result of too much power in the hands of the Family Compact and not enough in the hand of the colonists. He proposed that Responsible Government, already practiced in Britain be introduced in Canada.

In order to understand how Responsible Government works one needs to first understand the different branches of government. In the evolution of government in Britain, power came to be divided into three branches, the executive branch which does the day to day ruling, the legislative branch which passes laws and holds the purse strings and the judicial branch which enforces the laws. Historically, the King was the executive branch and with his appointed advisers would rule the country. Parliament was the legislative branch and was called upon to pass laws and okay taxes. In the 18^th century the Prime Minister, who was a Member of Parliament began to take on many of the responsibilities of the King. He would choose his cabinet members from the Parliament as well. So it came to be that the executive branch became responsible to the legislative branch, and had to have its confidence, in order to stay in power.

Durham’s recommendation took a decade to come to pass, but ever since then the executive branch of government is selected from those who have a seat in the legislative branch and as such must have its confidence. On Friday, March 25, Stephen Harper lost that confidence. While most of us feel an election at this time is unnecessary, I’m sure that we appreciate that we are not ruled by an oligarchy like the Family Compact.